IPOD touch 4g

The iPod touch is, according to Apple, its best-selling iPod, and no wonder. It's the best do-it-all MP3 and video player around, and by some margin. It does so much more than play music and video. It has one of the best mobile Web browsers available. It can take on a seemingly endless number of new features when you install apps. It's incredibly easy to use and it looks terrific.

The new iPod touch is available to order online direct from Apple now. The 8GB model costs £189, the 16GB is priced at £249 and the top 64GB version will lift £329 from your wallet.

To keep ahead of the pack, Apple has taken much of the technology from the iPhone 4 and put it inside the fourth-generation touch, although there are some important differences between the two.
Retina display

The most obvious update is the screen. This is now the same resolution as the one on the iPhone 4 (960x640 pixels), offering four times the total pixels compared to the previous model. This becomes most noticeable when you look at the icons on the home screen. For the apps where the developer has taken the time to make a higher resolution icon, the edges are much smoother.

Despite having the same marketing name ('retina display'), the display on the new touch isn't actually the same one used on the iPhone 4. It's not quite as good, particularly when it comes to viewing angles. That said, most people will probably only notice the difference when they put the two devices next to each other, and unless you're us, why would you want to do that?
Video calling

The next major update is video calling over Wi-Fi. You can call other fourth-gen iPod touch users and iPhone 4 owners using an app Apple calls FaceTime. Once you have associated an email address with the app, people use that identifier to call you. If you're trying to call an iPhone 4 owner, you type in their phone number. It works brilliantly, with better than expected video and audio quality in our tests, although there was some initial faffing around on the landline first as we asked our test subject to upgrade his iPhone 4 operating system.

To buy or not to buy?

The iPod touch is still the best multifunction MP3 player available, by some margin. It's so good, it's not really competing with rival manufacturers' players any more. Given that, it's probably not surprising that most of our complaints about it seem to be that it's not the iPhone 4.

Those complaints might be made a little less irritating when you consider that the touch is considerably cheaper than an iPhone 4. The 32GB touch, for example, is £350 cheaper than the equivalent iPhone.

Here's how we would choose between the two. If you're in the market for this sort of thing, happy with your existing mobile, locked into a long contract or strapped for cash, get this.

If not, buy an iPhone 4. Buying advice doesn't get much simpler.